What Language Is Spoken On Chiron?

[Sprayber]

This was brought up in the SMAC ficition forum by aktarian. But I have always wondered about this. So what do you guys think.

Break it down by faction. Or do you think there would only be one language? I guess the new factions would go with the same language as their parent faction

Peacekeepers -
Spartans -
Hive
Believers
Morgans
Univerisity
Gians
Pirates
Cyborgs
Cult
Data Angles
Drones

Caretakers and Upsurpers would speek similar languages I guess.

[Skanderbeg]

quote: Originally posted by Sprayber on 01-31-2001 06:20 AM This was brought up in the SMAC ficition forum by aktarian. But I have always wondered about this. So what do you guys think. Break it down by faction. Or do you think there would only be one language? I guess the new factions would go with the same language as their parent faction Caretakers and Upsurpers would speek similar languages I guess.

On one hand I think they speak some sort of universal Pidgin English.

Peacekeepers - The name Pravin Lal sounds Indian to me, so perhaps Indian.

Spartans - Corazon Santiago is of hispano-american origion. So I guess the speak Spanish. Hasta la vista Baby!

Hive - Chinese. What else.

Believers - This sort of fundamentalism can only be originated in USA. They speak American English.

Morgans - They have only one, universal language: Money

Univerisity: Look at the base names, and the origin of their leader: They speak Russian.

Gaians: With the origin of Dee, and their strange behaviour - Gaelic?

Pirates - A mix of French and English, as used in the Carribean.

Cyborgs - need only sequences of 0 and 1

Cult - don't need to speak, they can mind-read

Data Angles - Anglish?

Drones - they don't talk, they work

[bondetamp]

Actually I have a feeling that Lal speaks esperanto.

------------------
-bondetamp
--
When you have shot and killed a man you have in some measure clarified your attitude toward him. You have given a definite answer to a definite problem. For better or worse you have acted decisively. In a way, the next move is up to him.
-- R. A. Lafferty

[Aredhran]

Everybody speaks a bastardized version of English.

Think of it as the UN today... All the initial colonists are UN members, thus have to speak English as the common language.

Your generalization of a language by faction only makes sense if all followers of a leader come from the same "Earthcountry", which is probably not the case. Only the Spartans could realistically keep Spanish as a language, assuming they all come from the same area Santiago does.

After a few generations, you can bet anything that individual languages are all but forgotten. Now what would probably happen, languages being "living" things, is that "UN English" evolves differently for each faction.

Aredhran

[Transcend]

Lal is the dude from UN so it's safe to assume his faction uses English.
Zak may be from Russia, but scientific community is usually borderless and uses English as official language to communicate.
Deirdre speaks Scottish English and Celtic.
Miriam can only speak American English.
Morgan came from an African country that uses a different form of British English as official language.
Yang speaks Chinese will force all of his subjects to speak it.
Santiago's faction may use both English and Spanish.

[Sprayber]

Santiago was from Puerto Rico, I think, so she would have ready access to English. But I guess the major point of the SMAC plot is that people split up along ideology and not ethinic background. I think that after ensuring that they survived, each faction would attempt to forge some kind of separate identity. Especially if the were isolated for some time after planetfall. I think if you talked to any of the factions you would be able to make out a little of what they were saying but not much. English may have been preserved in some form. Maybe only the original landers would understand the old English, Frence or Chinease. I can see Zak swearing in Russian and only a few really understand what he was saying. Or Santiago muttering something in Spanish when one of her generals did something stupid. Maybe understanding the old languages would be the symbol of the elite in Chiron societies. Maybe the council is held in English as a form of ritual. I would think that the new factions would try and set themselves apart from the old ones by adopting new styles of writing and speaking.

I just thought that it was an interesting question.

Skanderbeg- I think you are right about Miriam. Her faction is definitly speaking English. If I was transported to Chiron they may be the only one that I would be able to understand. Which now that I think of it is just a bit scary. Maybe I would have to brush up on my Spartan or Morganese.

[tyler666]

Okay maybye its just me but why do you assume the factions only speak 1 language Zak is an unethical russian and faction are made up of his onrginal crew of scincest so i think they speak a mix of mant languages Lal is indian so he should speak both Indainan and english and possibly more Morgan speaks swahli,english and maybye other languages Yang commie bastard chinese by force and dee porbably sreaks celtic and english santigao spainish and english miram english and mybye im worng but all members of the UN dont speak english havent you ever seen a metting where the russians where the translator headset?????

Ducthesland Uber Alles!
Tyler Messer

[Christantine The Great]

. <---The Period


Anyway, Firaxis and independent writers really havn't kept the ideology thing to distinct in the game. All of the factions seem to have the same basic nationality.

[Sindai]

LOL Christantine....how very subtle....

[Myronides]

Well, since the game starts at 2100, or some years earlier with a joined mission, it's most probable that everybody speaks english, at least as an official language, in order to communicate while working together. But they don't call it the engilish language, they call it americanish, for obvious reasons (I mean, who will remember England by then, even now their only use is to represent the americans in europe ). Of course, after a couple of centuries in Chiron, and since the factions are divided by ideology, not nationality, they still speak just one language, the chironian (or maybe the centurian) language, an evolution of americanish with a big infuence of russian and chinise, and a bit of french and german.
Edit: Greek and latin elements still remain, one can't speak any language without them
[This message has been edited by Myronides (edited February 07, 2001).]

[Xerxes2]

quote: Originally posted by Myronides on 02-07-2001 02:36 PM together. But they don't call it the engilish language, they call it americanish, for obvious reasons (I mean, who will remember England by then, even now their only use is to represent the americans in europe ). Of course, after a couple of [This message has been edited by Myronides (edited February 07, 2001).]

Hmmmm, as an American who nearly idolizes the proper British-spoken language and who deplores the bastardization of american slanguage I have to sort of resemble that remark. NOBODY uses such beautiful diction as an educated Britisher.

[Sikander]

It seems as though a new creole dialect would have begun to emerge on the spaceflight to Chiron. Educated people would still learn various languages, and one would have to assume that English would be one of the most common ones.

As for the Aliens, I am assuming that they have unwittingly been duped into using the translation program that Mirada2000 has been using to post here. Perhaps a friendly Canadian will eventually set them straight, and the Humans and Aliens on Chiron will be able to communicate in the future.

[Myronides]

I felt I had to lern some english just because the majority of people all over the world also speak it, either as mother or as a foreign language. But history desides wich nation and language predominates, not educated people. The english power has declined, just like the spanish, roman, greek and babylonians earlier on. Since the americans have bigger influence, everybody will have to speak "americanish" sooner or later, including persians, englishmen, educated americans and eventualy the alliens

[big_canuk]

LOL

I was on a bus once with 2 girls having an arguement. One said,"It's Baston," the other said, "No, it's Bauwston." They asked me, "Which is it?" I replied, "It's Boston," and they both said at the same time, "See, I'm right."

On Chiron they would of course all be speaking different languages, but they would all understand and be understood by Canadians. ...Eh?
[This message has been edited by big_canuk (edited February 08, 2001).]

[Myronides]

LOL
Seems the canadians will be very popular in Chiron!
[This message has been edited by Myronides (edited February 09, 2001).]